In Broad Daylight (1971)

Just perfect...

good back-story, and good acting

Awesome Movie

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I saw this in the 1970's and recently viewed it again...it is still enjoyable. Richard Boone is great as a blind actor who plots revenge on his unfaithful wife played by Stella Stevens. Suzanne Pleshette and John Marley also play key roles. There is lots of suspense and LA scenes.

Blinded actor in Hollywood overhears his lusty, lying wife cheating on him with his lawyer; he concocts an elaborate plot to do her in. Aaron Spelling-produced TV-movie of infidelity and revenge was written by Larry Cohen, who had previously scripted "Daddy's Gone A-Hunting" in 1969 (another settle-the-score drama). Cohen's idea of a clever twist--utilizing the blind man's former profession to play up the theatricality of his murder plot--allows star Richard Boone a few colorful moments, but otherwise it feels like cheap gimmickry. Technical aspects and photography are about on-par for a low-budget movie of the week, though "guest star" Stella Stevens plays a shrew like nobody's business, and Suzanne Pleshette does well with the thankless role of Boone's therapist.

This was a great script from the prolific Larry Cohen, who wrote episodes for "Columbo," "Arrest and Trial" (a forerunner of "Law and Order") and episodes for Kraft Suspense Theater and "The Defenders." He has also written feature films.I'd love to see this film again - I wish it would come out on video. It stars Richard Boone as a newly-blinded actor and Suzanne Pleshette as his teacher. Though the Boone character puts on a big show for Pleshette of refusing to accept his blindness, he coldly and calculatedly trains himself to act as a seeing man so that, in disguise, he can get rid of his wife and her lover.It's a suspenseful story, a fascinating character-study and all around great entertainment. For some reason, this kind of TV movie fare has gone out of style and been replaced by women at risk films, rather slow-moving versions of Robin Cook and Mary Higgins Clark novels and the like. But we mystery buffs old enough to remember the '70s remember - with nostalgia - this kind of film.

Must disagree with the previous reviewer, who apparently only accepts Ingmar Bergman and Fellini as art and can't appreciate a good meat and potatoes thinking man's thriller when he sees it. IN BROAD DAYLIGHT isn't Fellini but it is definitely a suspenseful and rewarding early 70s crime drama featuring a memorable turn by Richard Boone as a blind man who pretends to be sighted in order to kill his philandering wife. Solid cast includes the timeless Stella Stevens, Suzanne Pleshette and Whit Bissell, all of whom turn in good performances. Perhaps there aren't the requisite car chases and gunplay associated with typical 70s crime drama, but this quieter revenge story is still absorbing and compelling from start to finish. More than anything, though, this is a character study of Boone's blind man coping with the realization of his betrayal and coldly calculating how to transform his helplessness and hatred into advantage and revenge. The clever premise is bolstered by real tension throughout and a satisfying Ulmeresque Detour-like ending, despite the previous reviewer's odd dismissal. This was actually a TV-movie produced by Aaron (LOVE BOAT, CHARLIE'S ANGELS, MELROSE PLACE, etc.) Spelling before he took up the lowest common denominator jiggly soap opera / action adventure mantle which built his 250-room Palace of Versailles in Beverly Hills. Too bad Aaron didn't continue down this darker, less commercial but more intriguing road, which tells the bleak story of a bright man who refuses to live his life in the dark. Spelling might not have built his huge palace making movies like this, but he'd certainly still have wound up with a couple ten bedroom mansions and a beach house, and we'd have a far superior filmography to enjoy. 8.5 /10